Russia - threadbanned users in OP

I visited that KGB museum 'The Corner House' back in 2016 and it was one of the most chilling experiences Ive ever had. Thousands of Latvians were processed there having been snatched off the streets by the KGB. I'll never forget the tiny reception area where they were booked in, the tour guide said if you found yourself in that room you were never going to be a free man again as you would either be killed in that building or else shipped off to a labour camp in Russia .Mothers of the disappeared used to show up to the building every day looking for their sons back. The interrogation rooms and torture chambers were absolutely chilling. And then the garage door exit onto the street- if the KGB wanted someone dead straight away they literally snatched them off the street, drove them into this garage, closed the door and then shot them up against the wall there and then. The garage was basically like an abattoir, they even had drains on the ground so they could wash all the blood away.

Whats interesting as well about that museum was the struggle to get it opened up and to keep it open. Latvia has a sizable minority of Russian speakers who have more loyalty to Moscow than they do to Latvia and the politicians they elect didnt want international tourists finding out about the horrors of what the KGB did in the city. It only opened in 2014 and it was a struggle to get it open with Russian focused local politicians battling to prevent it happening becasue they just wanted to sweep all the history of the KGB under the carpet. The tour guide explained all this to us, it was really fascinating to hear becasue although Latvia has been independent since 1991 there is still a sizable portion of the population who only consume Russian media, only speak Russian and live in their own Russian communities. I cant even begin to imagine what it is like for the average Lativian right now since the invasion of Ukraine, people who they know and work with will be literally parroting the Kremlins talking points about de-nazifying Ukraine. It must be really frustrating for them to have gotten their independence back in 1991 but stlll more than 30 years later they have this permanent Russian monkey on their backs.

Yep; I have zero expectations that Russia would even investigate let alone actually hold anyone accountable. I doubt they even care about any Russian victims either; but they will use any such incidents to further justify the conflict.

The thoughts of mass uncontrollable protests terrifies them.....like it did Milosevic, and even more so Ceausescu.

There will never be a 'conversation' about nuclear weapons, other than by countries wanting to acquire tham telling the currently nuclear armed countries to wrack off if they object. Nuclear proliferation is now a must for multiple countries, at a minimum being Ukraine, Taiwan and Australia. Poland may well want them as well.

Putin has let this genie out of the bottle and it's not going back in.

I mean even if all of that were true it still wouldn't explain the Kremlin's actions:

• Why not officially occupy LPR/DPR and Crimea with your full military might and then use that to force "talks on security"?
• Or even just attack limited military sites using cruise missiles to force talks?
• Or blockade Ukraine's coastal ports?
• Or impose a no-fly zone over eastern and southern Ukraine?
• Or deploy peacekeepers to LPR/DPR after recognising their independence to protect them?

There could have been a million ways to achieve Russia's stated aims via limited military action coupled with diplomacy: but it's abundantly clear they had much more extreme ambitions in Ukraine which only a full-scale invasion could ever achieve.

I find it interesting how Truss and Blinken are talking about the sanctions only lasting while the invasion is ongoing and will be removed when Russia withdraws. There's a realisation imo that this war is unwinnable for Ukraine. Also there's very significant costs for the European economy coming fast. Now that Biden's trip produced nothing significant and he's back in Washington I expect significant efforts to produce a peace deal within the next week. Otherwise Russia despite suffering severe setbacks so far will continue to escalate matters.

The DM is infested with huge numbers of putabots. I suspect every Russian embassy has mutiple people who work in shifts, 24/7, trying to bend the narrative in Russia's favour posing as locals, let alone the main centre that was revealed in St Petersburg.

That's just the second one in St Petersburg.

That's interesting. I assumed it was just right wing / far right Brexity types but Putin-bots could just as easily explain a lot of it too. There seems to be loads and loads of them, describing Zelensky as a warmonger and a troublemaker and getting hundreds of upticks for each comment.

Iì

Ukraine may have to permanently give up Donbas and Crimea and sign some sort of deal with Russia. As soon as the ink is dry the rest of Ukraine should be admitted to NATO and the EU. With lots of weapons and western money pumped into Ukraine. Russia would know then that any further encroachment would be like moving into any other NATO territory.